Review: Disney Infinity 3.0

?Disney Infinity 3.0 is the third instalment in Disney’s popular toys-to-life franchise. Whilst the first game focused on Disney properties, second focused largely on Marvel properties, Disney 3.0’s branding relies heavily on the holy-grail of the entertainment industry, Star Wars. From the onset of the game, Star Wars fans will feel right at home with many minor touches placed throughout Disney Infinity 3.0s many game modes. Avalanche Software have decided to include one play set with the game this time around. The Twilight of the Republic is set after the events of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. Without revealing too much of this brilliant original story, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano (Both included in the Starter Kit) find themselves in a Droid factory on planet Geonosis. The story will take you on a journey to find out who has reactivated the droid army in order to save the day.

The world is filled with a wealth of Star Wars lore which are evident throughout the incredible amount of side missions and NPCs which are placed throughout each planet. You can expect to come across fan favourites such as Jabba the Hutt, Mace Windu and of course, the incredibly evil Darth Maul.

If i’m being completely honest, the presentation is always what has stopped this series from being a masterpiece. Load times were all over the place, parts of the game felt unintuitive and assets felt reused and repetitive. I’m glad to report that this is no longer the case with Disney Infinity 3.0. Straight off the bat you’ll realise that load times have been drastically improved. Everything from loading into play sets, exiting in and out of toy box worlds and even characters appearing in-game once placed on the base feels smoother and quicker. It no longer feels like a chore to quickly zip around the many amazing modes that Disney Infinity has to offer.

?One of my greatest fears when Star Wars was revealed as the featured universe of Disney Infinity 3.0 was that Avalanche would have trouble bringing the art style of many Disney/Marvel properties together with Star Wars successfully. It quickly became apparently once stepping foot in the brand new Hub that this wasn’t an issue at all. I actually feel like the Star Wars characters & environments have been given a new life with their over stylised new designs. Not to mention, the figures are absolutely incredible. I can’t help but feel that they feature even more detail and polish than ever before. The Disney Originals in 3.0 feature a great selection with classics such as Mickey and fan-favourites from newer Disney movies such as Sam & Quorra. For me, Star Wars is nothing without it’s soundtrack and sound effects. Within seconds of the game starting up, you’ll feel right at home with signatures swoops of the lightsabres and the brilliant orchestral store that you’ve come to love over the past 30 years. This game really is the ultimate hype builder for The Force Awakens.

Disney Infinity has always provided boasted an infinite variety of ways to play but Disney Infinity 3.0 really delivers on the promise. I’d recommend starting out in the brand-new Toy Box Hub in which a bunch of recognisable characters will teach you everything that you need to know to make the most of Disney Infinity’s multitude of play styles. You can go through tutorials for flying air-based vehicles, learn about toy boxes or just run around and level your character up by taking on enemies that will randomly appear throughout the Hub. The Toy Box Hub really works to bring everything together into one polished package.

?The biggest improvement of Disney Infinity 3.0 is the combat. In previous games it always was enjoyable yet felt somewhat clunky but Ninja Theory have done an incredible job with making you feel that there is a certain level of skill required in order to pull off the biggest combos. This goes a long way in the included Twilight of the Republic play set. As mentioned above, it follows a unique story which any Star Wars fan will appreciate. You’re able to use the included Anakin or Ahsoka to battle your way through the planets or you can purchase Yoda, Obi-Wan and even Darth Maul. This is easily the best play set that Disney Infinity have offered up. The world feels full of life and actually provides you a reason to explore every nook and cranny. Even the side missions, whilst aimed at the younger demographic, are a blast to play through. I’d recommend turning the difficulty up to Hard to challenge yourself. One of the new combat abilities that you can level up are Force Finishers which allow you to pull off a certain force related special move if you time it perfectly. This is one of the many combat improvements that will make the game enjoyable for hardcore gamers. The play set is broken up into combat based missions, vehicle bases missions and intergalactic missions which are all equally fun. It can get repetitive at times, but it’s the perfect length and never outstays it’s welcome.

Inside Out is the other play set that is launching alongside the game. Whilst I wasn’t able to get my hands on it in time for this review, I can confidently say that it is equally fun and provides a completely different experience to that of Star Wars play set. There is also a Rise of the Empire play set coming next month which focuses on key moments from the original Star Wars trilogy. In Disney Infinity 3.0 community features have been even further enhanced to ensure that accessing the latest and greatest Toy Boxes is incredibly intuitive for the most entry-level of players. Flynn’s Arcade will match you with three other online gamers instantly in order to go head-to-head in competitive Toy Boxes. The El Capitan will provide featured Toy Boxes that you shouldn’t miss.

Disney Infinity 2.0 went a long way in providing even more possibilities within the Toy Box. Disney Infinity 3.0 works in improving this even further with the biggest addition being the brand new Path Creator. This allows you to create paths for vehicles, enemies and other objects which allow you to create your own set pieces. Avalanche have also included a Music Note Creator which allows you to create your own music. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the brand new Toy Dispenser allows you to quickly access toys from various Disney properties. ?Another major addition to Disney Infinity 3.0 are the new Toy Box Games. So far two have been announced in the form of Toy Box Takeover & Toy Box Speedway. Both will be available in October with Toy Box Takeover being included as a preorder bonus at EB Games. Toy Box Takeover focuses on different franchise from the Disney, Marvel & Star Wars universe in a world where Syndrome from The Incredibles has stolen the Infinity Wand and has used it to create several new worlds. The game is a dungeon crawler where your task is to obliterate any randomly generated areas who cross your path. Toy Box Speedway has been created by Sumo Digital and is a kart racer far beyond any of the vehicle based Toy Boxes that have been included in Disney Infinity to date. Power discs are now sold in packs of four which is greatly preferred to the blind packs of two.

It’s hard to mention Toy Box Games without mentioning Sidekicks which are new and improved in Disney Infinity 3.0. Sidekicks are lesser known characters from Disney properties that follow you around in the Toy Box/Toy Box Games. They are now able to be levelled up, mainly through the use of farming. You’re able to set your Sidekicks to work on a crop in order to grow vegetables which in turn, you’re able to feed them and help them level up or equip them with new abilities. It’s a great addition to the franchise and one that I found myself sinking a bunch of time into.

Disney Infinity 3.0 is the game that i’ve been waiting for since toys-to-life came to fruition a few years ago. It is a complete and polished package that genuinely has something for hardcore and casual gamers alike, young and old. It is better than Disney Infinity 2.0 in almost every way and brilliantly celebrates all things Disney, Marvel and Star Wars.

Founder and Managing Editor of PressStart. My first console was the NES and I grew a major love for gaming in the PS1 days, playing games such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ape Escape and Medievil.